Week 12: The end has finally arrived

So I am sad to say that this was my last week of my internship. I'm not gonna lie, I kind of hated waking up super early but I loved where I worked and the people I met. Tuesday was my last day and really I just worked on my presentation that I had to do today. I went over it with Christine to see what she thought and just did a bit of a wrap up of everything I have done this summer. Since there was nothing left to do I did not come in on Wednesday. Today I had a intern presentation where I had to present a PowerPoint of all the work I did at the museum and honestly I was super nervous. But that's okay because from what Christine said I did an awesome job. I really think I did the best I could and presented all of my main points so that's a plus. Honestly I cannot stop thanking Dr. Beiler, Dr. Scot French, Ruben Madrid, Laura Cepero, Bethany Gray and of course Christine French for all the lessons and opportunities that they gave me. This internship has been so incredibly rewarding and I can look back at the work I've done and be proud of everything that I accomplished. I helped create a database, put a collection together, accession items and did some great networking along the way. This isn't something I'll ever forget. This experience was well worth it. Hope everyone had an amazing summer. Up next? Fall semester a.k.a. graduation!

Until next time,

-Ambar the History Student

Christine and I

Week 11 Day 21 & 22 (July 22 & 23): Let the digitization begin

So last week was quite the experience. On Tuesday Dr. Scot French, Christine and I headed to the public library in downtown Orlando to begin scanning some of the photos and older documents from the Vanderpool family file as well as some xerox copies from a few discontinued newspapers and an original copy of a newspaper from Eatonville. Last week I mentioned the Melrose Center and sorry for the mistake but we were actually heading to the main building on the 4th floor.

So we arrive on the 4th floor and right by the elevator is this huge scanner. I mean this is no ordinary scanner but this clearly really expensive and high tech machine. It was pretty impressive to see it in action. About half an hour in, Laura Cepero joined us and got a pretty good idea of what we would be sending her way so all of these scans could be uploaded through RICHES. To make a very long morning and story short, it took us about an hour to understand how the scanner work and to get it to the correct settings. It took another 2 - 2 1/2 hours to finish scanning everything.

While the work clearly wasn't hard it was exhausting since we were trying to get every detail correct. I am really proud of the work we did and the staff at the library were incredibly helpful and really interested in the items we brought along with us. I really could not have done all of this by myself if it wasn't for the team effort. So a major thank you to everyone who was there with me.

Wednesday was a pretty short day due to a death in my family so for the short time I was there I spent it updating the spreadsheet attached to the images taken for the documents in the Vanderpool file.

Before I finish up, here are a few photos I took on Tuesday.

The Orlando Public Library

The scanner of all scanners

Dr. French and one of the staff members trying to help us figure out how to work the scanner (that's Christine in the background)

Dr. French saving all of our images

So that's all for now. By the way this is my last week interning at the MHM. I'm sure it will be bitter sweet saying goodbye. This internship really went by so quickly. 

-Ambar the History Student

Week 10 Day 19 & 20 (July 15 & 16): The accessioning begins

So on Tuesday Christine and I came up with a plan as to what we planned on digitizing. Don't think I've mentioned it yet but we will be digitizing some materials at the new Melrose Center at the Orange County Library in Orlando. They have this huge, brand new scanner that we are going to use on some of these older pictures and documents. Christine thought it would be a good idea if we cut it down to one family so I thought the Vanderpool family would be the best choice. First because they are super underrated (mentioned this last week) but also their group of photos is small enough to practice on but still big enough for me to properly digitize and accession.

Ahh yes speaking of accessioning...

Wednesday we began the process of accessioning. Actually Tuesday Christine came up with this brilliant little plan to organize the photos and original documents and then begin a small spreadsheet describing each picture and slip of paper. That way it would be easier to identify what pieces we were accessioning without confusing ourselves. After everything was organized we realized we should probably call in an expert on the subject of accessioning. Our expert aka Bethany was nice enough to come to the museum and give us a crash course on how accessioning works and how to produce a number. It was actually quite easy once she explained everything. We began with the pictures in the Vanderpool file and it was kind of fun creating the numbers and plugging them into our mini spreadsheet first. Afterwards we took each item and entered it into PastPerfect. PastPerfect was something that Christine and I played with a bit until we understood how it worked and how to upload any type of information on there.

I honestly thought adding all of our information and plugging it into PastPerfect would be quick but it took me about two hours to do. It isn't that it's hard to do but it is a bit tedious. Also I'm pretty sure my eyes started crossing after the first hour. The trick is to make sure everything is perfect since deleting and starting over will eventually cost you some time (it happened to me twice).

I managed to accession all of the Vanderpool documents (receipts, letters, etc.) on the mini spreadsheet but unlike the photos, I was not able to add it to PastPerfect. But that is okay since I'll be finishing up the rest of the documents tomorrow or Wednesday after everything has been digitized.

Happy Monday and I hope everyone had a lovely weekend.

-Ambar the History Student

Week 9 Day 17 & 18 (July 8 and 9): The finding aid is finally finished

This week's work was pretty solid and the schedule I made for myself went smoothly (this rarely happens by the way). I finally, FINALLY finished the Finding Aid. The only thing I have left is to write the biographies of each family and send the final copy to Christine. I'm honestly really happy I started and finished this so quickly. I'm also quite proud of myself because I really did start this completely from scratch. It really was rewarding to complete something I absolutely had no experience doing.

On Wednesday I was also invited by Christine to go to a meeting for the MHM that included the Maitland mayor, the vice mayor, Christine's boss Andrea and other really important people with really important titles. I don't think I've ever been to a meeting like that but I agreed with Christine when she said it was important to show myself at a time and place like this (plus I got to see how important Christine and the work she does really is on a larger scale). The meeting really opened my eyes to how important Maitland's Art and History Museums are to the community and the long term needs of said community. Honestly the meeting made me want to get more involved and reinforced my passion for what I'm doing at the MHM.

Anyways, that is all for now. Next week we will probably start photographing the pictures from the Founding Families Collection, starting with the Vanderpool family (they seem to be highly underrated in my humble opinion).

Have a great weekend everyone!

-Ambar the History Student

Week 8 Day 15 & 16 (July 1 and 2)

Sorry (for like the millionth time) for the late update. So as to be expected if I plan anything for the week something will come up and all of my plans have to get rearranged. This week was no exception. However the change of plans was nothing extreme.

On Tuesday, Christine and I went over the plan of accessioning items and then creating a finding aid. About an hour into the day we realized maybe this isn't the best use of our time. Change of plans we decided it would be better if we just got straight to the finding aid first and accession everything later. Creating the finding aid honestly felt much less frustrating for the moment and I honestly don't mind that we did things backwards. By the way that is one of the things I like the most as far as working with Christine and this internship in general. Sometimes you get to make your own rules. It can be quite refreshing and makes you feel like you have some type of control over this giant process.  

This finding aid is something completely new to the both of us so I was basically learning as I went and after playing around with the idea of it all for a bit I created a format that would work best for the way documents and boxes have been set up both in the collection and in the museum itself. In order to meet the deadline for the schedule Christine created, I had to quickly set up this finding aid and I have to finish it by next Wednesday which includes all of the founding families and the Maitland minutes. 

Not gonna lie it took me all of Tuesday just to do one box (which included two families) and I was worried since I had to do at least 6 or more boxes within the next three days. Thankfully after the first day I felt confident enough on Wednesday as to how the finding aid was looking and everything I had already included in it. At that point I was able to do four more boxes and give a detailed description of what materials were enclosed in the box. 

If I continue at this rate I should be totally done by Wednesday and the finding aid will be a 100% completed when I take it home and add a biographical narrative for each family throughout the end of next week. 

Hopefully everything goes as smoothly next week as it did this week. 

Hope everyone is having a great July 4th weekend.

-Ambar the History Student 

Week 7 Day 13 (June 24)

So this week will be short and to the point.

On Tuesday I officially finished sorting the last of the Founding Families Collection. I think it is safe to say that 99% of all the information on all the families are in their designated boxes and on the specific shelves that Christine and I chose to store the collection. Christine and I went over a game plan as to how we are going to set up a finding aid for the collection after finding a pretty decent and detailed one in her office. Seriously this museum is like a magical house straight out of the world of Harry Potter. If you ask for something/need anything it will wondrously appear in the last place you expected to find it (I may or may not loudly ask for a brand new car...just saying).

I also did some research this week on how accession numbers work, how to create them for each item and that we need to add said accession numbers to PastPerfect. Since I will not have enough time to do every item in every box I will be sticking to a specific box in the collection that has the least amount of items (trust me it is still quite a few items) which contains information and photographs of two of the founding families. Hopefully if all goes well I will be able to start accessioning items by next week and I have already started adding information to the finding aid.

Also the reason this post includes only the work I did on Tuesday is because on Wednesday, due to a family emergency, I was not able to come in.

Anyways, hope everyone has a fabulous weekend.

-Ambar the History Student

Week 6 Day 11 and 12 (June 17 and 18): Photography for Dummies

So this week was just a little on the complicated and frustrating side. But hey life isn't perfect right? So this week Christine and I decided it was finally time to begin the process of photographing some of the more important documents at the museum. Laura Cepero was gracious enough to come to the museum to give us the guidelines of what the standards of the photos should be like (in case anyone forgot Laura works with RICHES as the Metadata Editor). Last Monday I was able to borrow a camera from the public history department at UCF and got this really fancy Canon camera along with a tripod. In my head I seriously thought it wasn't going to be that hard. Take a few pictures, make sure they weren't blurry and move on.

Yeah, not so much.

Christine thought it would be a good idea if we just practiced a bit so we started off with some Xerox copies of a newspaper that had no other existing editions and honestly no one's really sure where it came from. Any who it was placed on the floor on top of a black poster board. But as Laura played around with the camera's settings (because honestly I had no idea we had to set up the camera, just thought the camera would figure that all out...I'm really not as tech savvy as I thought I was) she also came to the conclusion that the tripod given to me would not allow us to take decent photos of an item on the ground. We also realized the lighting had to be just right for this to work. We didn't have enough lamps laying around so Christine called her husband Dr. French (you all should know him as one of the coolest history professors at UCF) who was kind enough to bring us extra lamps. After we had the light situation fixed we had to admit to ourselves that none of us knew what we were doing with this camera. Christine decided to call her father, Ruben, who was a retired photographer.

Before I go on any further with my story let me just pause here to tell everyone how cool Christine's dad is. He's this adorable, little old man who the moment he walked in the door got all business like and said, "Where's the problem?" I mean he was so interesting, sweet and funny that I had to take him to lunch. You don't meet cool grandfather's like that every day and NOT take him out to eat. He's my BFF he just doesn't know it yet. It's fine though, I'm sure he'll be cool with it.

So anyways, Ruben has all his equipment, camera, tripod, and all these extra parts for his equipment because come on the guy is totally a pro at this. To make a long story a little shorter after using his camera, trying to teach me how to use my camera and using every trick in the book that he knew we could not take a proper photo of the fine text on any of the documents that we used. He spent over an hour with me (as did Laura) trying to get a photo where the print was not blurry when I zoomed in. To say that it was frustrating was an understatement.

After an hour of trying everything, both Laura and Dr. French left, and the only solution I could come up with was to use an iPhone and see if that made a difference. Surprisingly enough, the photo came out perfect. When you zoomed in the letters were not blurry and totally readable. Finally, I was relieved. I decided to take a few more shots and emailed Laura some of the photos to see what she thought of them.

Fast forward to the next day and as excited as I am that we made a breakthrough with these pictures I get an email back from Laura that kind of deflated me a bit. Before I go on in no way, shape or form do I blame Laura. This isn't her fault, she's just following protocol. But first I found out that the photo needs to be at 600 dpi (our photos were no where near that) and it had to be set to .tiff (our photos were still in .jpg). I was definitely disheartening because Ruben and I had worked hard to get a hold of something that would work. Christine and I talked the next day and realized that for now we should wait a bit until we had a better game plan. So on Wednesday I spent the entire day finishing up my work on the database and the collection.

 But you know what honestly it is okay. It was a learning experience. It was also so cool to have a group of people helping me out and that Christine was able to call reinforcements and how they came through for her and I. So thanks to Dr. French for taking time out of his day to come over and bring some much needed light. Thanks to Laura for coming all the way from Orlando to help me out. A really big thanks for Ruben (aka my BFF) for being super patient and not giving up as well as showing me the ropes on how to take a proper photo. And of course thanks to Christine for not leaving me in the dark and leaving me to figure out this mess on my own. Having friends in the right places is always helpful. I definitely learned that this week.

So that's it for now and if you look below you will see some photos I took of the group. Until next week folks.

- Ambar the History Student

The man with the camera is Ruben and the pretty lady in the white top is Laura 

The man in blue is Dr. French and Christine is on his right. They were both reading something and honestly I have no idea what it was. However I'll bet you 10 bucks that it was something probably historical. 

Laura, Christine and Ruben 

Ruben (the BFF) and Christine (no idea what she was looking at)

Week 5 Day 9 and 10 (June 10 and 11): The collection continues

This week I really just buckled down on the collection I started last week. I've narrowed the founding families to eight and while there are other very important families that left their mark on Maitland they came at a later time. Thankfully most of the information about these families were already in their own boxes but as expected there was plenty of information in other boxes. There are also a few families that did not have their own box so that means I will have to A) combine them since there isn't an entire box worth of info for each of those families and B) find boxes and space for them. Another problem is rearranging the specific shelves that I want to use. I want to keep the most important boxes and information about Maitland in one specific area but I don't want to move boxes that are in the way to other areas that can still be deemed as important. In a perfect world the more important boxes would be on the back of the bookshelves (aka where the less important info should be designated) and switch them out with the boxes on the main shelves that could be placed in other areas. Most of the time I'm finding and having to switch both important boxes and less important boxes all within the same space, shelf, or bookcase. It all just feels like a puzzle right now and I'm having to slowly rearrange the pieces so that they fit perfectly together.

On another less confusing note, I was able to go with Christine to one of her meetings. I totally felt important like I was on some official work business. But seriously the cool thing about this meeting was that it was put together by the ITPA, a group that I have seen mentioned and on many awards at the Maitland Historical Museum. Also one of the members of the ITPA (and whose family name has an award named after them) was the grandson of Carl Galloway.If I haven't mentioned it before the Galloway family was very important to the city of Maitland (and also part of my Founding Families Collection). I was unaware that the Galloway family name lived on and that I was meeting a descendant. It was all pretty cool.

I also mentioned that I would be including photos of what the research studio looks like in order to give everyone a better idea of what I'm working with.

These are the two bookshelves I'm always talking about. I did an entire inventory of all the boxes on these bookshelves. Christine already had a "system" going and each side of each bookshelf is a "Case" (starting from left to right is Case 1, Case 2, Case 3 and Case 4). 

Case 2 and Case 3 are what Christine and I deemed as the most important sections of the research library. This is where we want to place the most important information/boxes. The less informative boxes will go in Case 1 and Case 4. That little room in the background is simply used as storage but apparently used to be the bathroom to the house. 

Doesn't look super impressive but what you're seeing here is the collection I've started.

Next week I will begin the process of digitizing by photographing some of the information in the museum. Hopefully all goes well. Until next week.

-Ambar the History Student

Week 4 Day 7 and 8 (June 3 and 4): Phase 2 has officially begun

So this week we really started on the actual collections. Christine and I decided to start with concentrating on the founding families of the city of Maitland. We realized that while all the information (both old and new) about these people were in the research library they were scattered throughout the room. What we aim to do is get all this information in one area on one side of the bookcase, stored between two half shelves (lets say the right side of shelf 10 and shelf 11 for example). We located this collection directly in the middle (the inner side of both bookcases) where the light is the best, and we thought would deem all this information most important. Less important topics or collections will go on the outside of the bookcases. I'll make sure to take pictures to further illustrate my point and where the collection will be held.

Not gonna lie the first day was a little slow going for me since I was doing something totally new. Even though I didn't feel very confident of the work I did thus far, Christine reassured me that it was looking great and we were making great improvement. Towards the end of the day Christine and I made a more detailed game plan since we both know what we are up against now.

I definitely think the toughest part was moving box by box and before making huge changes having to go back to the database so as not to forget where the current location of each box was now at. Also boxes that needed to be moved to make room for this collection couldn't simply be thrown out or taken out. I had to instead temporarily relocate them to another shelf as more and more things got moved around. Of course the tedious problem is that these less important boxes also had to be continuously updated on the database so I wouldn't lose track of them. I think right now my biggest fear is losing track of a random box and the database not being updated. I think as long as I pay attention and try not to rush I'll be okay.

So all of that was Tuesday but on Wednesday instead of my usual hours at the museum I had a meeting with the very sweet and helpful Laura Cepero at RICHES located in UCF. Christine decided that instead of doing one task at a time I could simultaneously create a collection, take pictures of the older documents in the museum to digitize and learn a bit about Metadata. Laura sent me some information on how to scan (if we were using a scanner), what type of high resolution photos to take and how to upload to RICHES. In the end we decided that it would be easier if she sent me a database where I could plug in all the information of each photo I took since I will be taking much more than 10 photos. I learned that this is the beginning stages of Metadata (in this database I have to describe the content of my pictures in great detail). Like I said Laura was super helpful and she seems to be a pro when it comes to all things digital. Hopefully I gain a lot more knowledge from this young lady.

Also before I forget here are the pictures I promised from last week.

This is the mannequin I've been talking about. 

Up close photo of my worst nightmare the mannequin 

One of the headless mannequins at the front of the museum. I actually don't find this one creepy and find the dress (19th century at least) to be very beautiful.

So that's it for this week. I've learned a ton of information this week and the best part is that I'm learning it as I go and getting real experience in the field of archiving. Until next week folks!

-Ambar the History Student

Week 3 Days 5 and 6 (May 27 and 28): Phase 1 is officially over

Sorry again for the late response (I've apologized way too many times and should just stick to the habit of posting on time). I shall keep this short and sweet since this week was very much like the last. The only difference is that I finally finished taking inventory of all the items on the shelf. All I have to do now is go back and tweak some things on the new database. I'm really proud that I got this far and that I was part of the process of creating an actual database. I feel like this was the easy part and the hard part begins next week when Christine and I begin creating collections. Thankfully Dr. Beiler (that's my supervisor at UCF in case I haven't mentioned her before) shone a light towards what direction I should take this and where to find valuable information on how archiving really works. I'm terrified because I'm just really hoping I don't screw this up. On the other hand I truly feel like I'm leaving my mark on this awesome little museum which has come to mean so much to me in three short weeks.

By the way Christine finally showed me the attic and it's pretty huge. It was clearly more than an attic when it was first built and more of an upper level for extra bedroom space. The attic is where they keep this slightly creepy mannequin which from what I heard was put up there due to its creepiness. Christine warned me that the room I was stepping into held the actual mannequin but that didn't stop me from letting out a yelp the moment I saw it's face. She thought it was hilarious, I'm pretty sure I had a mini heart attack. She then showed me this little room which in and of itself was creepy because even though the sun was shining bright outside, the room was WAY too dark for my liking. For whatever reason we both got really quiet and just stared into it when the air conditioning cut on, making this really loud noise, which inevitably made Christine create her own little yelp (sweet, sweet revenge for laughing at my totally logical fears of life sized dolls). While we're on the subject of things that go bump in the night, Christine told me that she doesn't like to go up there unless there is someone else in the museum because she doesn't want to accidentally get hurt or trip down the stairs and no one will be there to help her or hear her. Look, I'm a pretty smart cookie and I know what that she REALLY means. She doesn't want to be pushed down the stairs and the last thing she sees when she looks back is the face of a haunted mannequin looking down at her as she meets her doom at the bottom of the stairs. That's not a way you want to go and no one would believe you anyways. When no one's around does a mannequin maniacally laugh out loud?

Anyways that's all for now and I promise to post at least one picture next week of this way too realistic mannequin.

P.S. I just read the last line to my first paragraph and realized it sounds like I'm declaring my love to a building. Nicholas Sparks I hope you're reading...you just found your next big sappy novel/blockbuster.

Week 2 Days 3 and 4 (May 20 and 21): The work continues

So Tuesday and Wednesday consisted of more independent days which have come as a huge learning tool for my internship. As much as my boss Christine continues to apologize because she feels like she's not there for every uncovering of every box it gives me a sense of independence to do it on my own and figure out little problems as I go (honestly she doesn't even need to apologize since she answers every question I have and is always there if I truly get stumped).

Side note: Christine introduced me to the assistant curator, Bethany Gray, last week and she is hilarious. Put those two women together and they are honestly a riot. It is NEVER dull day when they are both working on an exhibit together. I wanna be just like them when I grow up.

Back to my internship. If I'm not mistaken I got about 8 shelves done in the span of two days. I know that may not sound like a lot but this is also part of the learning process which is the people I work for have A LOT of meetings to go to. Apparently this is the norm. Learning to balance your work out around other peoples schedules. This is definitely something I need to keep in mind if I ever take a job on like this in the future. The reality is that there are a thousand things to do, everything from giving tours, sending emails, several meetings within a day and possibly holding down more than one job at a time. Time management has become my best friend so far and I've told procrastination to take a backseat.

I know it sounds like you don't have time to procrastinate but it is up to you (or really me) to set a pace, work on my own and get the job done. Advice to anyone who ever takes on a job like this or needs to take a large amount of inventory: as tempting as it is to get on Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Buzzfeed, etc. just don't do it. I've learned that taking breaks is fine and even encouraged but social media or browsing the internet just because your mind wanders a bit isn't going to get you through that next box of phone manuals (I found way too many of those this week).

I found some really interesting things and learned some cool trivia about specific people and the files that were in the research library. Found a few books written by Rose Cleveland (sister and temporary First Lady to President Grove Cleveland). I was a little confused as to why her books were in any of the boxes I was searching through and why she even had her own file until I did a bit of research. Apparently Rose was totally in love with Episcopalian bishop, Reverend Henry Benjamin Whipple's second wife, Evangeline Simpson. For those who don't know, although Rev. Whipple lived his life mainly in Minnesota, he had a winter home in Maitland, Florida. After his death both Rose and Evangeline continued their lives together in Italy where Rose would eventually die and 12 years later Evangeline would also pass away and be buried next to her long time lover and possibly soul mate (no idea if they were soul mates but it adds to the drama). I just really want to know why this hasn't been made into a soap opera yet. Besides dramatic love stories I also promised to deliver some pictures of some of my more interesting finds and I shall not disappoint my readers.

A close up of some of Maitland's original minutes. As you can see there is a date written on there for 1906 but actually contains the minutes between 1897 - 1916. 

Another photo of Maitland's original minutes 

A very old toaster that I found. It even has the original detachable plug in the box.  

The 1931 sign in book for the registered voters of Lake Maitland. Includes correspondence sent to the town clerk about people who signed up to vote but were possibly not from Maitland. Enclosed with this correspondence is a huge list of all the people who are believed to be real Maitland residents and a more detailed list of people who moved to other cities and the addresses they were possibly living at proving they were no longer Maitland residents.

Have a great weekend, hope you enjoyed my post and hopefully I'll have more pictures for you next week. 

Week 1 Day 2: The real work begins

Apologies for the late update since this was technically due yesterday. However just keeping on track with my second day on the job. Yesterday was definitely more of an independent experience. Christine was working on an exhibit for the museum so I knew that I would be doing a lot more solo work. She of course was still available if I had any questions and she was only a few steps away but that didn't mean I wasn't a bit nervous to work a full day by myself. I just really didn't want to mess up or let anyone down. Once I got into the rhythm of looking through a few boxes I was able to work faster and easily recognizing the old items I was looking at, and what type of importance they held to both the Maitland Historical Museum, the Telephone Museum and the Waterhouse Museum which is also under Christine's care and one of the branches of the Art and History Museums of Maitland.

 Just a little background on the Waterhouse Museum so as not to confuse anyone, it is the former home of pioneer settler and builder William H. Waterhouse. The Waterhouse family were a prominent bunch in the early days of Maitland and the home is an impressive view of Florida living (okay so rich Florida living) during the Victorian period.

I'd also like to give a little run through of the Telephone Museum and the Maitland Historical Museum (something I should have done on my first post but I'll just give a quick run through now). The Telephone Museum displays the early years of telephone technology and more specifically early telephone service in Central Florida and Maitland. The museum also includes the local history of the Winter Park Telephone Company.

The Maitland Historical Museum houses some of the phones from the Telephone Museum and highlights some of the pioneer families of Maitland which includes the Galloway family, the Waterhouse family and the legacy of Andre Smith. Here you can find different stages of what life was like in Maitland and Central Florida as well as housing the research library.

Pretty sure I've covered everything so back to my internship, Christine and I came up with a shorter way of getting through the boxes quickly without having to write down too much detail about every single piece within a box, which I'm sure I talked about in my first post. So with that in mind, I used this same method while taking inventory of all the boxes on the second side of the first bookshelf (also known as Case 2). Christine came up with a "priority scale" of 1-5, 1 being very important and 5 being something that isn't as important and considered a common item. While all of the items in the museum are stored within boxes, it can be a little difficult to find specific objects or documents and I wasn't always sure what I was going to find when I opened a box. Some moments were more frustrating than others but I understood no matter what I had to get through as many boxes as I possibly could. I'm proud to say that I got through 5 1/2 shelves located on Case 2 all by myself. Hopefully next Tuesday I can be even more productive and be one step closer to finishing up my inventory so I can begin to put together a collection or two.

Also just a small story but the house where the Maitland Historical Museum is in is a bit creepy since the house is very old. Connected to the research library is a small room/closet/bathroom closed off by some curtains and unless you turn the light on in there it is very dark even with the light of the research library on. Yeah well I was trying hard to be brave and not let my imagination get the best of me as I stood next to said room with Christine having a conversation of how far I had gotten, when I began hearing noises. Honestly the sound resembled small pebbles being thrown or small objects being moved. I stopped mid-conversation and just stared at whatever I thought was going to come after Christine and I because in my head I swore the ghost of whoever used to live there was going to start throwing enough pebbles at us to kill us both! Turned out that part of the house has some kind of thin roofing material and it was just rain. Christine thought it was hilarious, I saw my life flash before my eyes. But it doesn't matter I'm totally gonna tell people how I faced off with a ghost and didn't die.

Week 1 Day 1: Short intro. about yours truly, about my internship and my first day on the job

Hello all, my name is Ambar Payne and I am currently a senior at the University of Central Florida. I am majoring in history and hope to be enrolled in a Master's program in library science by 2015. My hope is that this internship will give me some up close and hands on experience of the type of work archivists are tasked with. This blog will be all about said internship, the work I'll be doing, the learning experience I'll gain and of course some of the problems I'll have to deal with head on.

I might have possibly rambled a bit so to get to the point what IS my internship about? I'll be working this entire summer with the Maitland Historical Museum's archives (aka their research library) alongside museum curator, historian and all around awesome lady Christine French. I'll be taking inventory of all the boxed and shelved materials which have been placed on four large, moving shelves (you know which bookshelves I'm talking about, the ones where getting crushed in between them could actually happen but no one wants to talk about it at the funeral because it's such a weird way to die). This includes both written documents and "3D" objects such as telegraphs, antique porcelain dolls, women's clothing from the 19th and 20th century and really anything else that has been donated. After I've taken inventory of all the boxes on all the shelves Christine and I will create categories or collections in which to place all of these items.

The goal was to do a shelf a week but today, on our first day, we managed to do a full 5 shelves. Between the both of us we plugged in as much information as we could into an Excel spreadsheet, breaking down these items as much as possible. The more detailed the easier to find. Until we ran into the problem of, "Hey wow, that last box had two items and this one has 20. Lets get a new strategy going." Apparently these types of problems happen in small museums all the time so I just took a deep breath, hoped for the best and revised our strategy. Things that may not be as important definitely get a description because we need to know what is in the box, which has become its temporary home, but anything that was incredibly important received much more detail and given a higher priority (sorry plastic View Master, you were cool but how did you get here?).

I realized how much I really don't know about archiving and no matter how much history I think I know, the more objects I pulled out of a box the more I didn't realize what it was or from what era it came from. I definitely have a lot to learn but I'm not ashamed of that, in fact that really gets me excited because it gives me a chance to learn something new, allow me to be more independent in my work and I haven't had this much fun in a long time. It's like going to work without realizing that's what you're there for and like rummaging through a really cool antique shop looking and touching things that were created over a 100 years ago.

I think this is enough for now but I'll be back to write more everyday I have to "work." Tomorrow I'll be doing a lot more solo work with Christine taking a little bit of a backseat, where today I got more of a pattern going with very close supervision. I'll try to upload some pictures, give little tidbits about the Maitland Historical Museum and all the work I'll be doing. Until tomorrow folks!

-Ambar the History Student